I was scheduled to fly on Emirates EK 806 on the 18th of February 2018 from Jeddah to Dubai. The flight was scheduled to depart at 11:05 and arrive in Dubai at 14:45. Then after almost a 3.5 hour layover, I had a connecting flight from Dubai to Karachi (EK 602) scheduled to depart at 18:10. I was travelling with my elderly mom (61 years of age), my wife, and my two very young sons (aged 2 and 4).


Once all of us were boarded on the aircraft at the Jeddah airport around 10:45am, the aircraft loitered around on the tarmac till about 12:15pm. Then the pilot announced that due to some undisclosed issue, we will have to wait a bit more before take-off. Then repeated announcements blared about some technical issue that the engineers were working on. Around 2 pm, the pilot announced that the engineers had failed to identify and/or rectify the problem so far and as a final measure, the entire plane would be shut down. This meant that all 400 of us passengers including children, infants and the elderly would be left sitting in the airplane for 20 mins without any lights, air conditioning, entertainment screens and proper ventilation!! The lights came back on after the promised 20 mins but the technical issue eluded the engineers. Finally at 3:30pm we were told to vacate the aircraft. It was 4.5 hours over scheduled departure time and we were still stuck at Jeddah! We were informed that a substitute aircraft had already been called from Dubai to Jeddah for us.


After getting off the aircraft, we were told that the substitute flight would fly us to Dubai at 9pm. It was 3:30pm and the flight time from Dubai to Jeddah is approx 2.5 hours so if the substitute plane had already taken off from the Dubai airport, why would it get here at 9 pm? Was it some extra slow aircraft that would take more than double the time?! When asked for any clarity, the Emirates staff at the Jeddah airport was very vague and gave ambiguous (and sometimes preposterous) answers including responses such as �put yourself in my shoes�?!?! We were promised lunch in 15 mins but got it in 90! Lunch was a plate of biryani with a can of soda. Around 8 pm, we were finally issued new boarding passes that read departure time "11:05 am". The airport staff claimed that "if all goes according to plan" we should be able to depart at 9:20pm. After being forced to wait at the overcrowded airport for another 5.5 hours with 2 kids and an elderly mom, we finally boarded the replacement aircraft at around 8:50pm and that aircraft eventually took off at approx 10:00pm!! The plane touched down in Dubai at around 1:05 am (Dubai time) and after about half an hour, we were scurried onto another part of the airport with our hand baggage and our tired souls to a flight scheduled to depart from Dubai to Karachi at 2:30am. We eventually landed in Karachi at 5:30am (Pakistan Time)!

Tiring day. Long agonizing wait. Poor customer service by Emirates. Harrowing experience!!


Summary:
- Our flight from Jeddah to Dubai was delayed by 11 hours!
- We were made to wait for 4.5 hours on an airplane including 20 mins without any electricity and ventilation. We were then made to wait another 5.5 hours at the overcrowded Jeddah airport and 1 final hour on the substitute aircraft. All of this with 2 very small kids, my wife and my elderly mom.
- Subsequently, our connecting flight from Dubai to Karachi was delayed by 8 hours 20 mins!
- We were not given any satisfactory accommodation during our original 11 hour delay. The staff was not cooperative and was gave very vague responses when asked for any help/information.


Can anyone please let me know what the claim process is for compensation in lieu of these two delays and the harrowing experience of undergoing this entire stressful episode with my family?? I have already written to the Emirates Customer Service Department and their response has not been very encouraging. They say they are investigating the details and will respond within 14 to 30 days. Has anyone had a similar experience?? Please advise.

Was this flight taken in First, Business or Economy?

Economy

You�ll probably get in trouble with your 61-year-old mom if you call her elderly to her face :-)

Sorry to hear this was a bad journey, especially with the kids in tow.

Hahahhahaa... True that! i dare not do so

I had a similar situation late last year except that I was in Business class and got a hotel.
Pretty awful thing to happen to anyone though, especially since you were travelling with a senior citizen and young children.

As a 66 year old, I reluctantly accept 'senior citizen' (and only because I technically am), but 'elderly'...?
No, my 92 year old father and my 93 year old mother, they are elderly allright. ^

Just a note, from the data it appears there wasn't another aircraft ferried, but rather that your aircraft was repaired on the ground and departed at 9:35pm for DXB, arriving 1am on 19 Feb. Interestingly it then was on the ground for over 12 hours before flying to Kuwait, where it then was delayed 3 hours on departure, perhaps the same issue, not sure. EK Source refers to technical issue, doesn't mention replacement aircraft. Perhaps what happened is that they shipped a replacement part on the evening flight to JED, EK805 which lands at 18:20, they then probably needed 2 hours to repair the aircraft, leaving 1 hour for boarding and catering before departure.

Just a review of what is likely to have happened in terms of the logistics and aircraft movements on that day, it's obviously a crappy situation when these things happen.